


Can You Even Call This A Christmas Tradition, We Didn’t Sing Carols Or Anything

by rarmaster



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 13:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5377706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk joins Papyrus on Christmas Eve for an apparently classic Christmas tradition: staying up all night and waiting for Santa to visit!! Frisk has their doubts, but plays along.</p><p>For theGreatAllie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can You Even Call This A Christmas Tradition, We Didn’t Sing Carols Or Anything

**Author's Note:**

> This was a lot of fun to write, and I'm really proud of it!!

“I AM VERY GLAD TO HAVE YOU OVER FOR MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TRADITION, FRISK!!” Papyrus boomed, as he opened the door to let Frisk into his house. Frisk smiled up at him, eyebrows raised a little. They still weren’t entirely sure they understood this so-called Christmas tradition. Papyrus hadn’t made a lot of sense when he’d rapidly explained it on the phone and then insisted that Frisk had to come over within the next three words.

But, Frisk was willing to spend time with their friends no matter what the occasion, even on Christmas Eve. Of course they’d come over.

“Go ahead and set your things on the couch!” Papyrus continued, in a slightly less booming voice.

Frisk nodded and stepped around the coffee table, careful not to bump it. The last thing they wanted to do was jostle the spaghetti sitting on it. They tossed the pillow they brought with them down on the couch, then dropped the small bag on top of the pillow with even less care. All that was in it was PJs and clothes for tomorrow. No big deal if _that_ got squashed.

“Um, I kinda missed it when you explained on the phone,” they said, turning around and flopping down on the couch with the rest of their stuff. “What’s this Christmas tradition you’re talking about?”

Papyrus beamed at them.

“We stay up all night and wait for Santa to come!!” he said.

Frisk blinked a few times. They started at Papyrus, trying to decide whether or not he was, um, serious? He couldn’t be! But, Papyrus rarely ever kid around…

“Uhh… I don’t think that’s how it works,” they said.

“NONSENSE!!” Papyrus waved his hand through the air as if dismissing their worries. “Of _course_ it is!!”

“No, really, Papyrus,” Frisk said. “I’m pretty sure Santa doesn’t show up if you aren’t in bed.” That’s what all grown-ups used to tell them, and Toriel had even had some of the same notions. Also, they may have tried once. Santa hadn’t come.

Papyrus gaped at them. “WHAT??? Where did you hear that?” Before Frisk could get a chance to explain, Papyrus laughed. “Trust me, Frisk! I’ve done this lots of times before, and Santa’s shown up each and every one of them! Forget those silly little rumors you’ve been told!!”

Frisk thought about arguing again, but didn’t see the point. They just shrugged instead. Might as well go along with it.

“Is, uh, the spaghetti for Santa?” they asked.

Papyrus nodded rapidly. Frisk wondered why they even questioned—of course it was.

They sat there for a few moments, watching as Papyrus straightened his spaghetti display. Then they looked at the clock—not even bedtime yet. Frisk kicked their feet a little, and then cleared their throat.

“How long ‘til Santa gets here?” they asked.

“It’s a different time each year!!” Papyrus replied. “But, don’t fret! I have the perfect way to pass the time!” He reached behind his back, and with a flourish, produced a stack of boxes. “Plenty of puzzles and board games!! Which should we start with?”

Frisk broke into a wide grin. “Checkers!!!” they declared, jumping off the couch.

They and Papyrus got set up in front of the Christmas tree, since that was the only open spot, with the entire coffee table dedicated to spaghetti and everything. Checkers was one of Frisk’s favorite games, so they more-than-happily put all the checker pieces on the board while Papyrus got himself settled.

“Where’s Sans?” Frisk asked, moving one of their black pieces. (Papyrus got red because red was his favorite color—besides, being black meant Frisk got to go first, and they liked going first.)

“Asleep!! The lazy bones!!”

Frisk giggled a little at the pun, even though they knew Papyrus hadn’t entirely meant it to be a joke. He never did.

“He does this every year!!” Papyrus continued, scowling at the checker board. “I stay up to see Santa, he sleeps, and misses all the fun.” Papyrus shook his head in disappointment. He moved a checker forward at random.

Frisk smiled at the board as they thought, trying to plan the best way to win this match of checkers. It required a lot of thought, even this early in the game.

“Are you excited to see Santa, Frisk?” Papyrus asked.

Frisk looked up at him, startled out of their plans. He was grinning widely, though, and Frisk would hate to shatter his enthusiasm. They nodded back as sincerely as they could.

“Uh, yeah!” they said, pretending to be excited.

Honestly, though, they weren’t really sure how they felt about it. Not only were they pretty sure it didn’t work like this, they were also pretty sure Santa wasn’t real. The only thing keeping them from telling Papyrus that was, well, he wouldn’t _lie_ about meeting Santa. Papyrus rarely lied, _ever._

Maybe Monsters had a Santa, but Humans didn’t…. That was the only thing Frisk could think of.

“GREAT!!” Papyrus said, grinning. “I am excited for you to meet Santa, too!!”

Frisk nodded, then chose a checker to move forward. “Can I have hot chocolate?” they asked, fixing Papyrus with their best pleading look.

“Of course you can!” Papyrus said. Frisk’s puppy-dog eyes quickly became a grin, even though they had expected this. Papyrus always gave in, even long before they got to pleading. “I will go get you some!!” he declared, and he marched off to the kitchen.

Frisk hummed happily to themselves. They started planning their next move in checkers, and once they had that decided, moved on to imaging what Monster Santa might look like.

 

~ ♥ ~

 

Frisk and Papyrus played checkers for a while, a long while, Frisk sipping hot chocolate and munching on cookies the whole time. They won most of the games, but Papyrus was a good sport. He never got mad when he lost, even after they’d swapped to Aggravation, one of Papyrus’s favorite games.

Soon enough it was nearly midnight—the latest Frisk had ever stayed up willingly. They’d thought staying up late would be fun, but in reality, they just found themselves envying Sans, asleep in a comfy bed. They envied Toriel, too, and anyone else who was asleep right now.

“I hope Santa gets here soon,” they mumbled, rolling their dice.

“Me too,” Papyrus agreed. He didn’t look tired, though. He was just fidgeting in anticipation. Frisk figured they shouldn’t be surprised, considering Papyrus never slept. This must be a walk in the park for him.

Frisk was just starting to consider how Santa was going to get in, since there wasn’t a chimney, when the doorknob rattled. Papyrus hopped to his feet.

“Aha!! That must be Santa!!!!” He rushed over to the door. Frisk watched, hoping it really _was_ Santa…

It wasn’t.

Or, not exactly.

Sans entered, wearing a Santa suit and a fake beard, his Santa hat slightly askew on his head. He was probably grinning just like he always did, though his fake beard covered a good portion of his face.

Well, that explained everything.

“Merry Christmas!” Sans said, in the worst attempt at a Santa voice Frisk had ever heard. He didn’t even do the laugh! Frisk found themselves giggling a little. Was Sans even _trying?_

“See, Frisk!! I _told_ you Santa would be here soon!” Papyrus said, waving Frisk over to join him and Sans at the door. “I just didn’t know he’d be here this soon!! Wowie!! Nice to see you, Santa!!!”

“Sup,” Sans replied.

Frisk fell into place beside Papyrus, sending Sans a look to tell him they knew what he was up to. He winked at them.

Papyrus reached over and pulled Frisk to his side. “This is my friend, Frisk!” he said, squeezing them. Frisk tried—in vain—to get him to let go. “I’m sure you already know them, Santa, but I thought I’d introduce you anyway!”

Sans laughed. Frisk thought they saw him grin a little wider—it was hard to tell with the beard in the way, but not even a beard could _completely_ hide Sans’s smile. “’Course I know ‘em. I know everybody. I’m Santa!”

Frisk giggled again, and ducked out from underneath Papyrus’s arm. Deciding to play along, they asked: “Do you have any presents for me, Santa?”

“Oh, what a wonderful idea!” Papyrus agreed, ruffling their hair. “You should give Frisk their gifts now, because! They are here!! It’d be silly to make them wait until the morning—they’ve waited up all night with me, after all.”

Frisk nodded along, smiling proudly at Sans. He hesitated a long, _long_ moment before he shrugged.

“Hey, I’d love to, kid. But _your_ presents have to be delivered to _your_ house. Them’s the rules.” He looked really proud of himself for that answer. Frisk just refrained from sticking out their tongue at him.

“Oh _well,_ ” Frisk sighed. They were largely pretending. They weren’t disappointed about the presents, of course, since there was no way Sans could’ve had any for them, but they were a little mad he’d come up with an answer so easily.

“Those seem like very strange rules…” Papyrus remarked, with a scowl.

Sans held out his arms to Frisk. “How ‘bout a Christmas hug instead?”

Frisk accepted the Christmas hug.

Papyrus had stopped scowling by the time they were done. He looked pretty excited now, actually, going so far as to bounce up and down as he addressed Sans again. “Well, Santa, do you have _my_ gifts?” he asked. “You can definitely give them to me now, because, this is my house, the right place to bring them to!”

Sans chuckled a little. “Sure, Papyrus,” he said. He reached behind his back and produced an unwrapped action figure, still in its box. “Here ya go, just like you said in your letter. You like it?”

Papyrus took the gift between his hands, staring at it in awe, a wide grin breaking across his face. “Like it? I _LOVE_ IT!!! WOWIE, JUST LIKE I ASKED FOR!!!” He did a little dance. “THANK YOU, SANTA!!”

“Sure thing,” Sans replied. His tone didn’t suggest it, but his eyes gleamed with joy. He must’ve been really happy to see his brother so pleased with the gift. Frisk smiled, happy for the both of them.

“Oh! Do you have Sans’s gift, too?” Papyrus asked, pausing in his dance.

Sans nodded, and from his back produced a small, haphazardly wrapped, box. “Here. Just put it under the tree for him.”

“Here, I will,” Frisk said, before Papyrus could grab it. They shook the box experimentally after Sans handed it to them, trying figure out what Sans had gotten for himself. There was no telling. It didn’t even rattle! Sighing, they took it over to the tree.

“Anyway, I should get going,” Sans said, nodding towards the door. “Got a strict Santa schedule to keep to—hey, is that spaghetti for me?”

“YES!! IT IS!!” Papyrus picked it up from the coffee table and in his excitement, thrust it into Sans’s hands. “I hope you enjoy it!!”

To Sans credit, he didn’t drop the spaghetti. “Oh, don’t worry, I will,” he assured Papyrus. “Gotta take it with me, though. Like I said: got a strict schedule to keep to. See ya.”  He headed out the door.

“See you!!” Papyrus called, and Frisk chimed in with “Bye!”

Papyrus turned to Frisk, hands on his hips, smiling proudly. “SEE!! Wasn’t that fun!!! I’m glad you got to join me in this classic Christmas tradition!”

Frisk smiled back. “Yeah, it was fun!!” they told him, even though they’d still like to argue about this being a _classic_ Christmas tradition. They stifled a yawn with the back of their hand. “But, uh—I’m really tired, Papyrus. I think I’m gonna go to bed now.”

“Oh! Of course!! I shall vacate the living room!” Papyrus headed for the stairs, admiring his new action figure and “nyeh heh heh”-ing to himself as he went. He paused at the top of the stairs, though. “Sweet dreams, Frisk!!” he called down.

“Sweet dreams!” Frisk called back, as they flopped face-first into the couch. “And, uh, Merry Christmas!!”

“MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”

**Author's Note:**

> 


End file.
